Fiction

When kids have long outgrown the nightmare in their closet, they still clamor for a story that scares them into sleeping with the lights on. From zombies to murdering ghosts, the following new fiction titles, selected by the editors at Junior Library Guild will keep middle school readers looking over their shoulders.

Arsenault’s mixed-media illustrations have a 1940s feel and are a perfect accompaniment to the soothing tone of Pendizwol’s lyrical text with its restful “Once upon a northern night” refrain.

The companion to Wein's "Code Name Verity" tells a very different World War II story with a different pilot, Rose Justice.

Web excerpt On Randolph Caldecott, the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Program, and the work of paleoartists

A sequel to The Peculiar (Bachmann), a first novel reminiscent of works by Kate DiCamillo and E. B. White (Pennell), and Book 3 in the “Ashtown Burials Series” (Wilson)

On fireflies (Morgan), animal feet (Arndt), and bridging Niagara Falls (O’Neill)

The first installment in “The Books of Eva Series” (Terrell), a genre-crossing debut novel with thrills and romance (Bernard), a thriller set aboard a cruise ship (de la Peña)

On dealing with little brothers (Zuppardi), haircuts (Adamson), and matters of the heart (Long)

From Victorian England to modern day America, orphaned children often face struggles that kids with parents rarely confront. However, most middle-grade students will relate to the issues explored in these new fiction titles―from poverty to self-confidence―selected by the editors at Junior Library Guild. In fact, these works may give young readers hope about their own issues, while giving them stories that help them step back from their own realities.